Rice University Athletics
Rice Hosts the 2009 Conference USA Volleyball Championship
11/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2009
Championship Central with GameTracker Links
2009 C-USA Volleyball Bracket in PDF Format 
Houston - Rice University hosts the 2009 Conference USA Volleyball Championship this weekend inside Tudor Fieldhouse on the Rice campus. The top eight teams in the 12-team league advanced to the tournament and action gets underway on Friday at noon. This is the second time that Rice has played host to the C-USA Volleyball Championship. The Owls hosted the 2005 tournament. The winner of the tournament earns C-USA's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
Rice plays Marshall on Friday at 5 p.m. The Owls previously defeated the Thundering Herd 3-0 on Oct. 31. The University of Houston plays top-seeded Southern Miss afterwards at 7 p.m.
Sunday's 1 p.m. championship match will be broadcasted by CBS College Sports with Jason Knapp and Anne Marie Anderson calling the action.
2009 C-USA Volleyball Championship
(Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas)
All Times CST
QUARTERFINALS
Friday, Nov. 20
Match 1 - (3) Tulane vs. (6) SMU- 12 p.m.
Match 2 - (2) Tulsa vs. (7) UAB- 2 p.m.
Match 3 - (4) Rice vs. (5) Marshall- 5 p.m.
Match 4 - (1) Southern Miss vs. (8) Houston- 7 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Saturday, Nov. 21
Match 5 - Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2 - 2 p.m.
Match 6 - Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 4 - 4 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Sunday, Nov. 22
Match 7 - Winner of Match 5 vs. Winner of Match 6 - 1 p.m. (CBS College Sports)
(capsules courtesy of C-USA)
Southern Miss (26-4, 14-2 C-USA) ranks atop the C-USA charts in four major categories. The Golden Eagles will look to utilize their strengths against No. 8 Houston (9-22, 6-10) in the final match of opening day at 7 p.m. CST. Four-time C-USA Setter of the Week Kelsea Seymour will quarterback a frontline with the power swings of redshirt sophomore Ashley Mell and right side senior Angela Hlavaty, while senior Maia Ivanova looks to direct the backline defense.
Southern Miss has never advanced past the quarterfinal round, but eight previous regular season champions have gone on to claim the tournament title and earn the league's NCAA automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. Houston's Kinsey Cave will be the key to the Cougars' counterattack. Houston has made 11 NCAA appearances since 1989 and is listed among the NCAA all-time winningest volleyball programs with 851 wins.
Tulsa (23-6, 13-3) earned the No. 2 seed after defeating SMU twice last week and will face No. 7 UAB (17-15, 9-7) in a 2 p.m. CT bout. The Golden Hurricane will showcase a number of weapons in freshman Tyler Henderson, junior Hannah Stout and senior Jennifer Eichler. Tulsa defeated UAB, 3-0, on Oct. 18 at the Reynolds Center and holds a 1-1 record against the Blazers in C-USA Championship matches, losing, 3-1 in the 2006 semifinals and winning, 3-2, in the 2007 Championship match to advance to its first ever NCAA Championship. The Golden Hurricane has been a top-four seed in four of the five years it has been a member of C-USA.
UAB carries a sense of experience and tradition into the tournament. The Blazers have appeared in the last three C-USA Championship matches, winning the title in 2006, and taking each match to a full five sets. UAB will rely on middle blocker Michelle Uzoh and freshman Sam Serley to lead the Blazers to a fourth consecutive appearance in the title match.
Defending tournament champion and No. 3 seed Tulane (17-8, 12-4) will open tournament play versus No. 6 SMU (19-10, 9-7) in the first match of the Championship at 12 p.m. CT. The Green Wave rank atop the RichKern.com/AVCA Midwest Regional Rankings and will rely on sophomore Visnja Djurdjevic to shell out another stellar performance against the Mustangs. SMU and Tulane met twice in the regular season, with the Green Wave taking both contests. Djurdjevic collected a pair of double-doubles (29 kill, 36 digs/14 kills, 16 digs) against the Mustangs.
The Green Wave is 10-2 all-time against SMU and has won eight in a row dating back to 2005. With the help of senior middle blocker Kendra Kahanek and sophomore Dana Powell, the Mustangs have the potential to advance to the semifinal round.
Host and No. 4 Rice (19-8, 11-5) will challenge fifth-seeded Marshall (22-8, 10-6) at 5 p.m. CT. The Owls landed four players on the All-C-USA preseason team, including 2008 All-C-USA Libero Tracey Lam. The junior will need to donate her league-best 5.45 digs per set to the match if the Owls want to advance into the semis.
The highlight of the match will come in a battle of the setters. Rice's Meredith Schamun enters Tournament play at No. 1 on the assists chart with 11.89 per set followed by Elizabeth Fleming of Marshall in second with 11.22. The Thundering Herd is 10-5 on the road this season and will look to draw on it this Friday on the Owls' home court.
